March Updates

It's been over a month, haven't felt like writing. Sorry! Life has been slow. Nothing too new. Classes this semester seem easier than last partly because I am not teaching speaking and that I got some good teaching materials for my listening and reading classes over the winter break in Saigon. The weather has not been that great--muggy and extremely humid (over 100% humidity) one day, and then 20 degrees colder and dryer the next. This quick sudden swing in temperature and humidity here causes a lot of students to be sick during this season. When it's humid, the floor inside our room is all wet and sticky and our clothes don't dry for days. This is the season of "mưa phùn," where it sort of rains all day and you don't see the actual raindrops but only very tiny little wet particles floating in the air which permeate everywhere and cause everything to be wet. On the days when it's cooler and dryer, then it feels pleasant. Foods (and everything else) get moldy really easily here because of the humidity.
We have not had power outages as often the past couple of months, so we're very thankful. Our teammates' rooms have been leaking water from the ceiling, so it's been really hard on them. Water drips down from the second floor into their kitchen and bathroom, causing electrical shorts so they have not been able to turn on their lights in the kitchen. They have been having to use flashlights to cook and wash dishes in the evening. It's been tough, but they have been really good about it, patiently waiting for the school to try to find and fix the leaks. Last week, the school finally realized the seriousness of the situation, so they sent some people into the rooms upstairs to tear out the concrete floor to look for the source of the leaks. The jackhammers have been at it everyday from morning to evening. They have finally stopped yesterday, so we're hoping the leaks have been located. There is some minor leaking in our bathroom too, some brownish liquid dripping from the ceiling near the pipe above the toilet. We're thinking the toilet in the room above us is leaking, but the smell is still tolerable so we decided not to pursue a solution.
Our country director and personnel director came from Hanoi to visit us two weeks ago for a couple of days. They had a meeting with the school officials and mentioned some of these housing problems we've been having, including our need for faster internet access. The school mentioned that they are renovating an old building on campus and making it into a guest housing unit hopefully ready to be used by September. The rooms will be a little larger than the ones we're living in right now. So, if all goes according to plan, we'll be living there next school year. They also mentioned that there will be DSL there as well. We gently mentioned to them that we would be very happy if they could put in a sink in the kitchen at the new place. We're not holding our breath, though. We'll take whatever that's provided for us and are learning to be grateful and thankful.
Other than these minor housing issues, we've been doing ok. We're still thankful for relatively good health, given the lack of food and water safety here. Last week, the water coming out of our bathroom sink became suddenly very weak, so decided to unscrew the little filtering screen from the faucet spout to see if there was anything clogging it. What I saw was quite disgusting. A big chunk of green gooey slimy thing was found inside the spout, along with miscellaneous little pebble like things. I couldn't understand how all these things got into the water system. And I had to refrain myself from imagining that I have been washing and brushing with this water all this time. So, it's been a miracle that we have not been more severely sick beyond just occasional stomachaches and diarrhea spells. So, we know many have been prayin for us back home. Thank you. We couldn't have made it each day without your fervent intercessions.
Teaching the students, however, continues to be a joy. It's good to see them learn new things and eager to improve their skills. They are also nice kids. A few of them still come over weekly to study and/or practice their speaking and/or play with Caleb. And Caleb still enjoys playing with all the students who come by. His birthday just passed, and a few students brought him presents. We also had a little celebration for his, my, and a close student's birthdays three weeks ago.
This coming year, our team of teachers in VN will have some changes. Some teachers are leaving (permanently and also temporarily), and some new ones are coming. So the country director is going to have to figure out who goes where. We are also thinking about whether we will stay at this school or move to another school, which may or may not be more suitable for a family with a young child. We have been thinking about what kind of social life Caleb needs. He has lots of students to play with, but no kids his age. It would also be nice to be in a place where restaurants are more accessible to help us during times when we are unable to cook. Privacy and more isolation from noise have also been on our minds. Some have suggested we should live off campus. But we like the safe environment of the campus (inside our cage), and the convenience of a short walk to classes. Anyway, these are some of the issues we've been wrestling with and awaiting guidance for.
Two days ago, we received in the mail two boxes of various foods and goodies from our friends back in Fremont. They were a nice surprise. Although they didn't make it in time for Caleb's birthday, it was still good to know people are thinking about us. We were glad to be able to share some of it with our teammates. Thank you. We know the economy in the US has not been doing well, so we appreciate those who are still supporting us.